Homework for this weekend made my hand hurt. 

There is a list of words for calligraphers to practice with. It contains all the possible alphabetical pairs in the Latin alphabet!  My assignment was to draw this list of words three times. If you're interested, here's the list: 

lynx tuft frogs, dolphins abduct by proxy the ever awkward klutz, dud, dummkopf, jinx snubnose filmgoer, orphan sgt. renfruw grudgek reyfus, md. sikh psych if halt tympany jewelry sri heh! twyer vs jojo pneu fylfot alcaaba son of nonplussed halfbreed bubbly playboy guggenheim daddy coccyx sgraffito effect, vacuum dirndle impossible attempt to disvalue, muzzle the afghan czech czar and exninja, bob bixby dvorak wood dhurrie savvy, dizzy eye aeon circumcision uvula scrungy picnic luxurious special type carbohydrate ovoid adzuki kumquat bomb? afterglows gold girl pygmy gnome lb. ankhs acme aggroupment akmed brouhha tv wt. ujjain ms. oz abacus mnemonics bhikku khaki bwana aorta embolism vivid owls often kvetch otherwise, wysiwyg densfort wright you’ve absorbed rhythm, put obstacle kyaks krieg kern wurst subject enmity equity coquet quorum pique tzetse hepzibah sulfhydryl briefcase ajax ehler kafka fjord elfship halfdressed jugful eggcup hummingbirds swingdevil bagpipe legwork reproachful hunchback archknave baghdad wejh rijswijk rajbansi rajput ajdir okay weekday obfuscate subpoena liebknecht marcgravia ecbolic arcticward dickcissel pincpinc boldface maidkin adjective adcraft adman dwarfness applejack darkbrown kiln palzy always farmland flimflam unbossy nonlineal stepbrother lapdog stopgap sx countdown basketball beaujolais vb. flowchart aztec lazy bozo syrup tarzan annoying dyke yucky hawg gagzhukz cuzco squire when hiho mayhem nietzsche szasz gumdrop milk emplotment ambidextrously lacquer byway ecclesiastes stubchen hobgoblins crabmill aqua hawaii blvd. subquality byzantine empire debt obvious cervantes jekabzeel anecdote flicflac mechanicville bedbug couldn’t i’ve it’s they’ll they’d dpt. headquarter burkhardt xerxes atkins govt. ebenezer lg. lhama amtrak amway fixity axmen quumbabda upjohn hrumpf

There's some pretty fucking weird words in there. And about 1/3 of the way through you hit the sentence "You've absorbed rhythm." I don't know if my teacher put that in there to mess with me but to be honest I didn't make it that far. I got through the first four lines roughly three times and then threw in the towel before I got to write things like "elfship," "dickcissel," and mother of god, I just saw "annoying dyke" in there. Whoever came up with this list seems like kind of a major douche. 

This week my teacher is marking off the best versions of all the letter variations, and I'll start to digitize them. 

Revisiting some old sketchbooks this week because I'm on the hunt for fonts I have made up over the years. 
I'm learning how to digitize fonts right now, in another great class taught by the same instructor as the class I took over the summer. I'm a little intimidated by all the coding, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Who knows, maybe I can even sell some of these...the less crazy ones anyway.

This is the first font I'm choosing to digitize (we are using a software called FontBook5).  I kind of want to call it The Mists of Standard Time but that's not super catchy. Maybe Time Tunnel or Fancy Spaghetti? I'll post up some more sketches and process photos here so you can see what goes into making your own font. 

I was really inspired by a class I took earlier this summer. In response to an assignment to create a visual set of instructions, I ended up making the first draft of a mini book about ways to prevent panic attacks.

​Showing my work to my professor and the small group of other students, I unexpectedly felt this huge weight coming off of me. I started thinking about how much of my day to day life is spent trying so hard to appear to be a mentally healthy person.

For a really long time I've had this feeling that it's selfish for me to make art about this. After all, my experience isn't as bad as a lot of people who deal with depression and anxiety.  

It's time to clean my desk. I think I might be becoming an art-supplies hoarder. A few of the things I've collected over the past month:

• antique daguerrotype embossed foil framing bits (a whole pile from the queechee gorge village antique store)
• lovely vintage crinkly blue foil ribbon (to use as water/waterfalls for my dudes)
• vintage marimekko fabric (todd's farm)
• a paper mache life size arm with clenched hand and painted blood on the end (yard sale)
• a tiny old book with beautiful plates called "Souvenir of Newport, RI" (antique barn in the Lake Champlain Islands)
• an embarrassing amount of other tidbits what is wrong with me???​

In other news, I'm participating in a group show at the Washington Street Gallery in Somerville, opening party is Saturday, August 5th from 7-9pm. Kind of a neat idea for a show-- all the artists swapped ideas secret santa style. The one I got was pretty tough: 

"Within your discipline, pick a type of work, either the style or subject matter, that you hate or find totally uninteresting.  Make a piece like this, but which you do not hate."

Ok. First of all how do you make something you don't ultimately hate?? Maybe it's just me but that seemed pretty near impossible. 

I ended up expanding on an idea I've been working on all summer-- a mini book about some ways to prevent panic attacks. I figured it fit the bill, I really really hate having panic attacks. 

I broke out each spread and mounted them on foam core, also will have a limited number of the books for sale, probably like 5 dollars. Come say hi. ​